Pâques!

Happy Easter everyone!  Did you know that in France, they have the Easter Bells (les cloches) instead of bunny?  It's clearly more logical -- the bells go to the Vatican to get eggs for all the children.  Duh.

(at this point, I would like to reference my favorite comedian, Jim Gaffigan... click on his name for his Easter jokes.  I also recommend his routines on Jesus, Bacon, and Hot Pockets).

But I've had a really great Easter with my host family.  We ate after an AMAZING meal: lamb, soy beans, beet salad, regular salad, and french fries.   After that, we ate the lava cakes that my host mom and I made in the morning... Well they weren't quite lava-y enough, but still very delicious.  Check out Recettes for the recipe and more photos!

But being with everyone was really great!  They're all really nice and a lot of fun.

From left to right: Ben (23), Pascal (the boys' dad), Max (21), Clement (20), and Marie (my host mom).

Marie even got me a chocolate bunny!!

 

Stay tuned for... Spring Break with a special surprise guest!!  I'll be back in Montpellier on May 8th so check back soon after for new posts!

That First Step is a Doosie!

This past weekend I went to St. Guilhem le Desert and les Grottes de Desmoiselles.  And it was an amazing trip!

First, anyone who ever finds themselves in southern France HAS to go to St. Guilhem.... It is the cutest French village (I think it was actually voted Prettiest French Village) and I think 600,000 visitors per year would agree with me that this is straight out of Beauty and the Beast!

The town is in a valley.  The history of St. Guilhelm is that people kept trying to build a bridge over this one point in the river but the devil kept destroying them.  So, one day St. Guilhem says to the devil, I'll build a bridge and you can keep the first soul that crosses the bridge as long as you don't break it.  The devil agrees and St. Guilhem builds the bridge.  On the day it's finished, the devil arrives to collect his soul.  So St. Guilhem picks up a bone and throws it across the bridge and a dog chases after it.  The devil gets mad because he has been cheated out of a soul and leaves.  The bridge still stands and is called Le Pont de Diable.

Other fun facts: all of the original doors were round.  Anything square was made during the Renaissance.  Also, in the main square there is a statue of Marienne (Liberty).  The tour guide noted that she is facing in a very deliberate way -- away from the church.  At the time when it was built, the church was the law and Liberty was for the people's law, not the church's.

Next we went into the church and cloisters.  Note: these are not the real cloisters.  The real cloisters are actually in Manhattan!  The tour guide was very impressed (maybe even jealous) that I had been to the real ones.

After the tour we had a really nice lunch.  I had pizza with tomato sauce, emmental cheese, goat cheese, honey, and walnuts.  DELICIOUS!! 

Then we went on a really nice walk towards the mountains.  We didn't have enough time to climb it but got some great views of the valley and of the ruins at the top.  Another legend says that there was a giant who lived in the castle at the top of the mountain.  St. Guilhem vanquished him by pushing him out of the window.



Next we went to the caves (and I snuck in a nap on the way) and I had no idea what to expect.  First we get in and there are some really cool stalactites and stalagmites and other formations.

 And then we wiggled through some very small spaces when all of a sudden... BAM!  The cave opens up into this HUGE cavern.  And I mean, it felt like we walked through a tiny tunnel and into a cathedral.  But we weren't at the bottom, we came out at the top.  To get an idea of how big this space is, try to find the stair cases and hand railings in the picture below.

Some other cool formations: The Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus and the Pipe Organ.

It was absolutely incredible, but maybe not the best for those with fears of tight spaces or heights!

Unfortunately, Sunday was less fun because I have so many finals on Mon-Wed... Fun.  My final schedule is all kinds of weird: This week is most of my finals.  Next two weeks are spring break.  Week after that finishes up finals.  Week after that is designated "finals week" ... and I will already be done with finals.

Oh well!  I guess I'll just have to go to the beach for a week :)

Stay tuned for... Where in the world is Carmen Sandiago?  Paris?  Prague?  Berlin?  Munich?

For more pictures, click on our friend from lunch (because Shanelle kept feeding her her stew!):

Arles

(Saturday) Just got home from a lovely day at the beach with some friends.  Got a little crispy, but I guess I can't complain... I spent all day next to the Mediterranean.  Hehe

Yesterday (Friday) was a fun day trip to Arles.  The weather again was amazing!  Hot, sunny... the perfect day for my new, one shoulder, white sundress. 

Arles is such an adorable provincial city.  We started at the Roman Ampitheater.  It was built around 90 AD and could fit around 20,000 spectators.  Like the amphitheater in Nîmes, this amphitheater was recycled: in the Middle Ages it was used as a fortress and later it was built into a walled city with 212 houses and 2 churches. 

Then we continued along to the classical theater and took some really fun pictures (where better to wear a dress that kind of looks like a toga than next to some Roman ruins?).

After the classical theater, we went to the Cloisters at St. Tromphime d'Arles.  The door of the church was really cool looking.  Can't remember the story but there were Apostles and a Chain Gang among other figures.  Inside was very peaceful.  And it was much cooler -- it was an inside court yard so it had the cool off the stones and the cool of a light breeze that snuck in and just a touch of warm from the sun.

Next we went for lunch at a cafe right catty corner to the one that Vincent Van Gogh painted!  Vincent lived in Arles and so we got to see a lot of the places that he actually painted.  But back to lunch for a moment: we had basically these large, round slices of bread (think pizza crust) covered in cheese, sauce and other veggies.  Kind of like pizza, but with toast instead of crust.  After we went to a Rick Steves recommended gelato place where they had some really unique flavors like fig and olive oil with honey.  I was hot so just went for peach and apricot (yum) but my friend tried the olive oil and it was good.

After our re-charge, we scoped out some more Vincent Van Gogh (they pronounce it Van Gog... hehe) sights: the hospital court yard (the hospital was called "Hotel Dieu" or God's Hotel), the park, and the Rhone.

Then, we went to the Constantin baths (some really cool stone work).  They were built in the 4th C with three rooms: the Caldarium (warm room), the Tepidarium (the lukewarm room), and the Frigidarium (the cold room). 

Next we went to the Musée Réattu, a modern art museum that had some Picasso sketches!  Very cool works (sketches maybe?) done in creypas (I think?) on what looked like brown paper bags (see mom, you're not the only artist who goes to the A&P for art supplies).

Finally, we ended the day with a glass of wine at the yellow café painted by Van Gogh.

 

The best part about the day was that the monuments had a special deal (maybe only for students though) where you could get into 4 monuments and a museum on the same ticket for 7 euros... not to shabby!  But I really loved Arles!  So cute and friendly.

For more pictures, click on the man with the funny mustache:

Stay tuned for... Finals?  Really?

Le Citronnier

This is Marie's lemon tree.  It is absolutely beautiful and deserves it's own post.